Probiotics For Women: The Top 11 in 2020

As women, we tend to put our needs last and put caring for those around us first. And while this is an amazing, selfless mindset, sometimes you just need to be a little selfish.

Your health and wellbeing need to be the most important factors in your life. Besides, how are you supposed to get everything else done if you’re constantly under the weather? An easy, daily dose of targeted probiotics for women is exactly what you need to kick your health into high gear.

“A number of customers claim that this probiotic assisted weight loss.”

What’s the best probiotics for women in 2020?

You don’t have the time to be scouring pharmacy shelves for the best probiotic supplement. So, we’ve rounded them up for you here. It’s time to put your health first with friendly bacteria that’s targeted for women’s well being – get excited!

#1 – Editor’s Choice – 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum

Best Overall

Full spectrum

This product from 1MD has topped our list due to the sheer potency it delivers into your gut. In each serving, you have 51 billion CFU’s and 11 different strains of probiotics. If you’re wanting an overall health boost, this is the product for you. With such a broad spectrum of probiotics, this supplement will have you feeling on top of the world in no time.

The results speak for themselves

1MD conducted a survey on Complete Probiotics Platinum in 2016 and found that 93% of their users had more energy when taking these probiotics and 96% said they experienced better overall digestion. 1MD are so sure you’ll love this product that they even offer a 100% money back guarantee. You can find the best available price as of June 2020 via the link below.

PRO’S

CON’S

Can cause temporary digestion issues in first time users due to high number of CFU’s

Not specifically targeted towards women

#2 Garden of Life: Raw Probiotic for Women

Best Runner Up

Packs a punch

Speaking of powerful products, this specialist probiotic for women comes with a massive 85 billion CFU’s and 32 probiotic strains per serving. This is a great probiotic to work your way up towards. Start on a product with less CFU’s until your body is used to the dose of bacteria to avoid any adjustment issues when first introducing this supplement into your diet.

Raw foods included

This product aims to mimic the benefits of consuming raw and fermented foods. Therefore, each serving contains a bunch of great fruits and veggies in for added benefit. Foods like bell peppers, carrot, plum, and raspberry can all be found in each vegetarian capsule along with a heap of vitamins and different probiotic strains to specifically support women’s health.

CON’S

#3 HyperBiotics: Pro-Women

Best for weight loss

Targeted in every way

This product only includes strains that are specifically targeted towards women’s health. This probiotic claims to balance your yeast and manage weight, immunity, and digestion with added whole cranberry for urinary support.

Customers say it helps with weight loss

It’s one thing for a product to claim it will help you lose weight, but it’s another thing entirely when the customer reviews are proving this is true. Many women who’ve tried this product have experienced an abundance of health benefits. However, a common theme is that this has helped them actually lose weight. So, if you’re struggling to overcome a plateau despite your healthy diet and regular exercise, this probiotic could benefit you.

PRO’S

No need to refrigerate this product

Delayed time release probiotics

6 targeted strains

Assists with weight loss

Contains cranberry for urinary health

Contains prebiotic fibers to feed probiotics

Once daily dose

CON’S

#4 Renew Life: Women’s Vaginal Ultimate Flora Probiotic For Women

Lactobacillus powerhouse

This probiotic supplement from Renew Life includes 10 different strains, 8 of which are from the Lactobacilli family known to assist vaginal health. So, if you’re suffering from bacterial vaginosis and recurring yeast infections this product may be exactly what you need to kick them to the curb.

No added vitamins or minerals

If you’re going to be taking this product you’ll need to go elsewhere to get your daily vitamin and mineral hit. Paired with a great multivitamin, this product should do wonders for helping to cover the full spectrum of your feminine health requirements.

PRO’S

CON’S

You need to refrigerate this product

No added vitamins or minerals

#5 Renew Life: Ultimate Flora Probiotic Extra Care

Overall health

Although it may not be a targeted probiotic for women, it has around 50 billion CFU’s and 12 strains per serving. Therefore, you’ll be feeling health benefits everywhere your probiotics can reach. Immune and digestive function will be improved, meaning you’ll have more energy and feel lighter so you can get on with your busy day without feeling sluggish and weighed down.

Needs to be refrigerated

This product doesn’t have the technology built into it to protect the live cultures from being killed by the heat. Many of the reviews claim that the bottle arrived to them warm, and therefore the potency of the probiotics may have been compromised. You might want to keep this in mind if you’re going to be ordering online.

PRO’S

Once daily capsule

50 billion CFU’s per serving

12 different strains

CON’S

#6 Sedona Labs: Iflora Women

Blended probiotic and prebiotic

This product is synbiotic, which means it contains both prebiotics and probiotics. There are about 6 strains of probiotic mixed with a plant-based prebiotic in this product to keep your friendly bacteria happy and thriving.

Twice daily dose

Sedona Labs has intended this product to be consumed twice a day. To keep this simple, be sure to consume both capsules at the same time. And if you notice your body reacting badly, it might be best to drop the dose down to one capsule instead. Be careful when purchasing a 30-capsule bottle, as this will only be a 15-day supply if you take the recommended two capsule a day dose.

PRO’S

Targets vaginal and urinary tract health

Synbiotic

6 targeted strains

30 billions CFU’s per serving

CON’S

#7 Natural Riches – Probiotic for Women

Money back guarantee

If you’re not feeling the benefits of this probiotic by Natural Riches, they will refund all of your money. This is a great incentive to try this product, and reveals the company’s confidence in their product.

Great health benefits

Natural Riches claim their product will help with your immune system, digestive, and colon health, as well as increase calcium absorption and decrease your risk of contracting bacterial vaginosis. These are some awesome benefits that are suited to women of any age.

PRO’S

Money-back guarantee

One tablet daily

15 billions CFU’s per serving

Contains prebiotic

CON’S

#8 Vitamin Bounty – Women’s Pro-Daily Probiotics For Women

Affordable for beginners

This product has a tidy 10 billion CFU’s and 5 strains of different probiotics targeted towards women’s health. The best part is this product is usually around $20 for a 30-day supply, so is a great value. This reasonable price and lower CFU content makes this product perfect for those trying probiotics for the first time. This is because when you are just starting probiotics for the first time, you want something that will be easy on your system. This product also comes with a satisfaction guarantee just in case you’re not completely happy with it.

Includes cranberry

If you’re a woman that’s ever experienced a urinary tract infection (UTI), you know the first advice you’re given is to stock up on cranberry juice. That’s because cranberry is known to stop bacteria from adhering to your bladder wall. Cranberry juice won’t necessarily help this, but cranberry concentrate can.

PRO’S

Contains prebiotic

5 strains

Cranberry for UTI prevention

Money back guarantee

CON’S

#9 BioSchwartz Advanced Strength Probiotic

Best seller on Amazon

The Bioschwartz Advanced Strength Probiotic is the number 1 best-selling Probiotic on Amazon at the moment. Reviewers mention that it helps with everything from IBS, chronic constipation, digestion, and even acne. With an overall rating of 4.6 stars from over 3000 reviews, this product is an excellent one to check out despite the product not being targeted for women. This is one of the best probiotics in the market right now based on customer reviews.

Survives stomach acid

BioSchwartz has engineered some nifty technology into this product to ensure it survives your stomach acid and bile fluids effectively to reach as far as your large intestines. It also guarantees that at least half the probiotics will be alive and ready to get to work until the expiration date hits. Pretty good odds.

CON’S

#10 Align Probiotics

A unique patented strain

Align Probiotics uses a unique patented bacterial strain called B. infantis. Align claims that the bacterial strain (developed by gastroenterologists over 10 years) has been clinically proven to rebalance (or re-align) the good vs bad bacteria in your gut.

Recommended by gastroenterologists

Align is the number one recommended probiotic supplement by gastroenterologists in the United States. This says something about how trusted the Align brand is. In addition it currently has over 83% positive (4/5 star) reviews on Amazon.

PRO’S

Unique, potent B. infantis strain

Money back guarantee

Does not require refrigeration

Vegetarian friendly

CON’S

#11 Nutrition Essentials Probiotic

One multi-purpose strain

Bacillus Coagulan is the only strain of probiotic contained in this product from Nutrition Essentials. However, it is considered one of the most effective probiotic strains on the market. Therefore, you’ll still be getting health benefits like digestion improvement and a decrease in bad bacteria growth. It’s also one of the highest rated and cheapest probiotic supplements on Amazon with over 10,000 reviews and a 4- star overall rating.

Inconsistency

Some reviewers of this product have mentioned that the bottles being sent to them are slightly different to what the website shows or to their previously purchased bottles. This may indicate poor quality control and may affect the potency of the probiotics. Therefore, keep this in mind when purchasing and be sure to ask for your money back if the products you receive are affected.

CON’S

What are ‘prebiotics’?

Prebiotics are a great addition to any probiotic supplementation. They are the indigestible fibres in some foods like bananas, oats, garlic, onion and asparagus that fuel your probiotics.

A quick probiotics 101

Probiotics are friendly bacteria in your body that mainly assist with immune and digestive function. These good bacteria reside in your gut and are live alongside some bad bacteria. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless you have too many bad bacteria.

There are over 400 species of probiotics in a healthy person and 300 trillion good and bad bacterial cells in your body at any one time. It’s important to take care of your health so that these bacteria are balanced in your gut with a bit more good than bad bacteria present for optimal health.

Do I need a supplement?

Whether you need a supplement in your daily regimen or not depends on your diet. Generally, doctors will suggest that consuming probiotics via fermented foods is a great option to maintain a healthy gut. However, fermented, probiotic-rich foods like kimchi, tempeh, and sauerkraut are not always easily accessible. Therefore, a more convenient route is a probiotic supplement.

You can purchase probiotic supplements in powder, tablet, or capsule form and generally only have to take them once a day to receive the full benefits. Taking a daily probiotic supplement is by far the simplest way to keep your gut happy.

Unique benefits of probiotics for women

No matter your age or whether you have children or not, if you’re a woman you’re probably a busy person. Unfortunately, not all busy people have the time to focus on their health as much as they should. Diet, fitness, and mental health all take a back seat when it comes to navigating a hectic schedule. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Probiotics can help give your health the boost it needs and keep you on track so your busy schedule doesn’t burn you out. Apart from maintaining your immune and digestive health, there are numerous women-specific health benefits that probiotics can assist with.

Some of the main female health benefits are:

Vaginal health

Have you ever had case or recurring BV or vaginal thrush? If so, then you’ll know how supremely uncomfortable and frustrating they can be.

Both of these infections are caused by an imbalance of the bacteria in your vagina or an overload of yeast. While antibiotics may help temporarily to wipe out all bacteria (even the good ones), they can throw everything out of whack down there and risk repopulating the vagina with bad bacteria once everything starts growing back. In turn, this leads to recurring infection.

To break the cycle, take a daily probiotic containing specific strains that make up a healthy vaginal flora. Strains like Lactobacillus crispatus, iners, acidophilus, delbruekii and gasseri make up that desired vaginal flora, according to this in-depth study.

Menopause symptoms

While probiotics keep your vaginal flora healthy and regular to prevent infections down there, one of their main functions is regulating the digestive system. When a woman goes through menopause her digestion can suffer and become irregular. Keeping up with your daily probiotic dose can seriously help to negate some of the uncomfortable effects of menopause.

The benefits of probiotics aren’t just limited to digestion though. Your mood swings, libido, hair growth, and those pesky night sweats and hot flashes will all be improved as your probiotics stimulate hormone and vitamin production

Fertility

Along with keeping your immune system healthy, stimulating hormone and vitamin production, and preventing vaginal infections, probiotics can also relieve inflammation in the body, prevent inflammatory diseases and help you lose excess weight gradually. All of these benefits add up to increase your fertility and give your body the best chance at creating a healthy environment to conceive your baby.

As with any new health supplement, be sure to chat to your regular doctor beforehand so they can assess your background and determine whether probiotics are the right option for you specifically. Each person is different and had differing health needs.

What should I look for when purchasing probiotics?

To make things easier for you when choosing a probiotic, take a look at our top tips and tricks below for finding the best probiotic supplement possible.

Probiotics strains

If you want targeted health benefits, be sure to find a probiotic supplement geared towards women, with specific strains for female health.

Stomach acid

Your probiotics will be killed off by your stomach acid if given half the chance, so make sure the probiotic you choose is acid-resistant.

Expiry date and refrigeration

Most probiotics will rapidly decline over time and some need to be refrigerated. If this is the case, grab a bottle that’s been refrigerated in the store before purchase and one that’s the furthest from it’s expiry to optimize potency.

Vitamins and minerals

Many probiotic supplements will contain vitamins and minerals. However, be on the lookout for them and be sure to avoid products that contain unnecessary fillers.

Prebiotics

If you can, grab a synbiotic supplement, which is a probiotic product that also contains prebiotics. This gives the good bacteria the fuel they need to work properly.

One dose

One dose a day is the easiest way to get your probiotic hit. Any more than once a day can be a bit tricky to remember to take.

SUMMARY: Look for a once daily dose probiotic supplement that has a large amount of CFU’s (over 25 billion) and strains, is acid resistant and contains a prebiotic. Avoid products with a large amount of fillers.

Will I notice changes immediately?

You can expect to see major improvements within about two weeks. However, smaller improvements like the reduction of bloating, cramping, and gas may be experienced in as little as two hours after taking a probiotic supplement.

To make sure you’re receiving the best results from your probiotic supplement, be sure to focus on the following lifestyle factors:

Diet – Cut back on your sugar and unhealthy fats and introduce more veggies, whole grain fiber, and fruit into your diet to see quicker results.

Exercise – Move more each day to help enhance your probiotic health benefits. When you exercise, all your vital organs and bodily functions start working at full capacity. Therefore, your probiotics will be able to work faster as well.

Medications – Medications like antibiotics, laxatives and antacids will hinder your results by making your body more acidic and hostile for your probiotics.

Strains – As mentioned in our tips and tricks for purchasing a probiotic above, find the right strains for targeted, faster results.

Low quality – Don’t cheap out on your probiotic supplement. Opt for the best quality probiotics to get the best results.

What is the best time of day to be taking my probiotics?

According to this medical study, taking your supplement with your meals or directly before them is the best time. This is because the food actually protects the healthy bacteria from being killed off by your stomach acid.

So breakfast, lunch or dinner?

If you’re wanting a full spectrum of health benefits, take your probiotic with breakfast to ensure you feel the benefits all day. However, if you have a specific health concern that flares up at certain parts of the day, take your probiotic with the meal directly before the issue generally occurs.

How often should I be taking my probiotics?

You need to be taking your probiotic supplement daily to maintain the balance of healthy bacteria in your gut. Probiotics are flushed out with daily bodily functions so they need to be replaced consistently. If you’re still in doubt though, the label on the product will tell you exactly how often you need to be taking your probiotic.

SUMMARY: Aim to take your probiotic consistently at the same time each day with food. Taking a probiotic with your breakfast is optimal since this gives you the most amount of time to reap the benefits.

Are there any side-effects to taking probiotics?

There’s trillions of probiotics floating around your body right now. Given this, adding a few billion more to your gut isn’t going to hurt.

Any probiotics the body doesn’t need will usually be flushed out so you’re at no risk of overdosing. That being said, there are some potential probiotic side effects you should be aware of.

Possible side effects of probiotics:

Minor digestion issues

If you’re taking probiotics for the first time, you may experience some minor gas and bloating. These symptoms are your body getting used to the supplement and should only last a maximum of 2 weeks. Discontinue use if these symptoms extend past the two-week mark and ask your doctor for advice on how to proceed.

Allergic reaction

Some probiotic supplements can contain common allergens. Therefore, be sure to read the label carefully before purchasing

Risk of infection

If you have an immunocompromising disease, it’s best to check with your doctor before using a probiotic since you could risk developing a serious infection.

Besides the above issues, if you do develop any adverse reactions after taking a probiotic, be sure to check with your doctor immediately before continuing use.

Want more reviews?

Staci has been a registered dietitian with the Commission on Dietetic Registration since 2010 and has over a decade of experience in the nutrition and dietetics industry. She has graduate degrees in Biology, Human Nutrition, and Nutrition and Education from New York University, the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, and Teacher’s College, Columbia University, respectively.

Last Updated on May 3rd, 2020

About Staci Gulbin

Staci Gulbin MS, MEd, RD, LDN.

Staci has been a registered dietitian with the Commission on Dietetic Registration since 2010 and has over a decade of experience in the nutrition and dietetics industry. She has graduate degrees in Biology, Human Nutrition, and Nutrition and Education from New York University, the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, and Teacher’s College, Columbia University, respectively.

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ARTICLE EDITED BY:

Staci has been a registered dietitian with the Commission on Dietetic Registration since 2010 and has over a decade of experience in the nutrition and dietetics industry. She has graduate degrees in Biology, Human Nutrition, and Nutrition and Education from New York University, the Columbia University Institute of Human Nutrition, and Teacher’s College, Columbia University, respectively.

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